With Alesha Dixon was criticised for her lack of professional dancing experience, despite winning the show as a contestant in 2007, Carr’s appointment as a judge would be a controversial one.

Bookmakers would be facing a hefty pay out to any punters placing a bet on Carr, with the former Friday Night Project host not featuring in the initial odds.

Arlene Phillips is still the bookies’ â and fans’ â favourite to take the vacant slot, followed by 2010 winner Kara Tointon and professional dancer Karen Hardy, a regular on companion show Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two.